`I Ran In With No Fear'

July 28, 1999|By VANESSA BAUZA STAFF WRITER

DAVIE - — Neighbors crawled under a blanket of dense smoke to pull two critically burned children -- one with burns over 70 percent of his body -- and their mother from a smoldering apartment on Tuesday morning.

The blaze started when one of the children accidentally set a mattress on fire while playing with a cigarette lighter, investigators said.

The 3-year-old boy with extremely critical burns underwent surgery at Jackson Children's Hospital in Miami on Tuesday afternoon. His 16-month-old sister was also in critical condition with burns over 30 percent of her body, hospital officials said. A third child was able to get out of the smoky apartment.

One neighbor who rescued Shannon Schmitzer and two of her children after the 10 a.m. blaze said he is normally at work at that time, but on Tuesday he stayed home to install a hardwood floor in his apartment.

"I believe things happen for a reason," said Tony Iacino, holding his 1-year-old son. "Somebody wanted me here. I just ran in with no fear."

Iacino lives one building away from Schmitzer's apartment in the 3600 block of Southwest 61st Avenue. When he heard her screaming for help, he ran there with Edward Cruz, a friend who celebrated his 17th birthday on Tuesday.

Crawling on the floor under the thick smoke, Iacino made it to the children's darkened bedroom, where he saw a disoriented Schmitzer, 22, holding her 3-year-old son Wyatt Quinn, who was sitting on the mattress when the fire broke out.

Iacino guided them through the smoke to safety.

Meanwhile, Cruz ran into the smoke-filled apartment and almost stumbled over 16-month-old Cheyenne Schmitzer, who was gasping for air on the living room floor. She had been burnt badly while sitting in her crib next to the flaming mattress, investigators said.

Cruz pulled his blue T-shirt over his mouth and nose to keep from gagging and took Cheyenne in his arms, carrying her out of the apartment.

"The baby's skin was peeling. I still smell it on my shirt," said the Hollywood Hills High School junior. "Its eyes were rolling back and its mouth was foaming. I don't ever want to see something like that again."

Iacino and Cruz placed the children under a blanket in the shade while they waited for emergency officials.

A third child, 2-year-old Charles Schmitzer, was already out of the apartment. He suffered first-degree burns and smoke inhalation and was treated at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood and released, hospital and fire officials said.

Schmitzer was also treated there and released.

Davie fire investigators said Schmitzer was in the living room with Charles when the blaze broke out on one of the children's mattresses. They found a cigarette lighter on the floor by the charred mattress, said Sid Marchant, Davie Fire Rescue spokesman.

Schmitzer managed to put out the blaze on the mattress using a hand-held fire extinguisher by the time firefighters arrived at the apartment. She also moved Cheyenne from her crib to the living room. But when she went back into the room to get her son, Wyatt, she lost her bearings, said witnesses and investigators.

Though the mattress fire was relatively small and contained, the heat was intense.

"The foam is very hot and very flammable," Marchant said. "The stuff gets in your lungs and the soot is very heavy. It looks like the whole apartment was on fire."

Cookie Wright, the apartment complex manager, who also tried to get into the apartment by smashing the living room windows with a small bookshelf, said the Schmitzer family had moved into their $600-a-month ground floor apartment about five months ago.